Home

Cleverdale, NY

34 miles (row), 2 miles (walk)

I’m home. Yesterday’s departure from Chipman Point at 5:45 may have been a bit early, as I had none of the trouble I’d anticipated in winding my way up ‘La Chute’ to Ticonderoga’s town park. At this moment I sit on mom’s porch ‘ the morning after,’ a hot cup of coffee and a day to do nothin’ at all in front of me, and the feeling is bittersweet; the last three weeks established a healthy, challenging, and ever-varying routine concentrated on both enjoying the moment and achieving a goal. What’s not to like – and miss - about that? Yet here, home, with friends and family and an on-demand cup of coffee … well, as I’ve said all through this journey, I’m a very lucky, lucky man.

Yesterday’s sunrise emerged over Vermont, ‘La Chute’ was largely clear, and Doug and Susie Livingston arrived right on schedule to enable me to cart my boat up the hill – a vigorous 2-mile portage – to Lake George. They also delivered an egg salad sandwich and a vanilla malt, the only fare I would eat, or need, to power myself home. A tip o’ the sunhat to Bob and the crew at Snug Harbor Marina, who allowed me to re-launch the boat with good cheer and no fee … and after a five-mile run on Champlain, I was only 29 miles from home.    

La Chute

Where Lake George flows into Lake Champlain

Within two hours, a south wind came up that would be on the nose all day; what could have been a relaxing final sleigh ride down the lake was, instead, a tough, slow slog down the east side. That these clear, inviting waters were familiar and prompted the best kind of nostalgia eased the pain, though, and by 6:30 PM I arrived to cheers, hugs, and kebabs from Hannaford.

Thanks again to Doug and Susie for their heroic logistics support, to Bob and Bean and company for their moral support north of Black Mountain Point, and to son Matt for checking on his dad a few hours later, reminding me again of the warm welcome ahead. You all made a final hard push for home a little bit easier.

So … last night my head hit a real pillow for the first time in three weeks, and I don’t remember it. Instant sleep. Instant. Today I’ll assemble the bits and pieces of my 3-week universe … I’ll take my steaming laundry to a laundromat in town rather than tax our ‘lil Whirlpool, I’ll disassemble and clean boat parts and hardware, and I’ll sleep and swim. And repeat.

And as odd as it sounds in the reading, I’ll write again when Peg arrives with my computer; the handwritten journal has been a wonderful old school throwback medium, but I’ll look to my keyboard for deeper stuff in the coming weeks, if only for my own sense of closure to this blog.

Peg, thanks for the transcription and editing of it all, for even sending a hard copy to my techno-peasant brother, and for being there in every way … including finding my wallet by telephone. You rock!

If you’ve read, thanks for reading. If you’ve passed a gift to Boys’ Latin, thanks for that generosity as well; ‘paying it forward’ leads to our best selves, yes?

More blog later!

Peace, love, and happiness … and thanks for being aboard.